FTFA:Alaska State Troopers say Spencer Polty was killed by a shot to his chest from a .17-caliber pellet rifle fired by another nine-year-old boy in Pilot Station on Friday afternoon.

The rifle has been described as 'high-powered' and is believed to have went off during an argument between the two boys.

[...]

The boy has not been identified and police are unsure what charges will be filed.

This is where the bullsh*t lies, isn't it?

Notice that the article talks about how the pellet rifle just happened to go off. Yes, it just happened to go off as it was pointed at the chest of the victim. Just a total freak accident... riiiiiiight.

Whatever happened to the phrase pro-gun folks like to use, "Guns don't kill people -- PEOPLE kill people." This 9-year-old shot and killed his classmate while they were arguing with each other. The fact that the shooter was 9 years old doesn't make the victim any less dead.

As for the charge, it's murder. You can certainly argue heat-of-the-moment, but it's still murder. Try him as a juvenile and be done with it. You can always provide psychological evaluation and counseling after he's been convicted and sentenced.

doglover:killed by a shot to his chest from a .17-caliber pellet rifle fired by another nine-year-old boy

You can kill a boy with a pellet gun?

I've got a pellet gun that shoots at around 1,200fps. It's got a scope, and can easily take out prairie dogs at 100 yards. The first time I shot it, I taped my target to a cinder block wall, and wound up breaking the cinder block. I certainly wouldn't want to be shot with it. They make even more powerful ones than that too. Gamo makes one that shoots at 1,600fps.

This story deserve the SICK tag. Sick because the kid killed his friend just because of a little student award thing. What kind of kid is that? Most kids at that age already know what it means to die. It's not like in the movies where kids are too naive about death. Real life kids know what it means to be dead. They know it means goodbye forever, you rot and look like a zombie then a skeleton, you either go to heaven or hell if that's what their religion believes. Most of all, they know it is a CRIME just by living in society for a long time.

Maybe the killer is just a dumbass who didn't really mean to kill his friend, but still he pointed the gun at him and fired. This kid should be punished.

If I were the mother of the kid who died, I would NEVER forgive that son of Satan for killing my child.

doglover:killed by a shot to his chest from a .17-caliber pellet rifle fired by another nine-year-old boy

You can kill a boy with a pellet gun?

Sort of depends. There are pellet guns designed to be children's toys, which at worst will make you bleed a bit unless you're staring right down the barrel, and even then will "just" blind you. Then there are pellet guns designed to hunt vermin, which are basically very low-powered, low-caliber rifles with the advantage of being quiet enough to get a couple of shots off. They also have shaped pellets rather than basic round balls which are designed to go faster, deflect less, and flatten out like a hollowpoint, which as other people have noted has a pretty good chance to take out a squirrel or a groundhog at ten or fifteen paces, with the added benefit of the ricochet not being particularly dangerous so you don't have to worry about a shot that misses damaging something or someone else.

A hunter/farmer's pellet gun isn't going to leave a gaping concussion wound or anything, but it can certainly penetrate and if it doesn't hit bone before it gets into something more vital the damage can be considerable. They're genuine hunting tools, like other low-power hunting tools like a fishing mallet or a skinning knife they're still not something you should let your nine-year-old casually fark around with unsupervised.

So... yes, basically.

Or, to put it another way: my pellet gun was under my bed and my brother and I shot each other all the time with no problems (other than the results of the ensuing fistfights). My father's pellet gun was in the gun safe, with the shotgun and the rifles, and if we'd touched it without permission and supervision we'd have been grounded until we were 50.

Fark Me To Tears:As for the charge, it's murder. You can certainly argue heat-of-the-moment, but it's still murder. Try him as a juvenile and be done with it. You can always provide psychological evaluation and counseling after he's been convicted and sentenced.

Probably manslaughter. Murder requires trying as an adult in most states, which in the case of a nine-year-old defendant essentially means you're not getting a conviction.

So my guess would be manslaughter, deferred sentence involving some kind of probation or other continual legal oversight, and regular visits from social services and psych counseling until the kid turns 18.

Then, this is my opinion as a reasonable person that grew up in an area where juvie crime was actually a significant problem, I'm not sure if it's reasonable under whatever color skies you've got out in crazy-land.

If a pellet gun is powerful enough to kill a human, does it still serve a purpose?It seems unnecessary if it can just take the place of a gunpowder-powered gun. (that sounds cool, gunpowder-powered gun. Gunpowder-powered gun)

I always saw them as "yeehaw let's get 'er them there squirrel" toys for parents not wanting to give their kids traditional firearms. Are they cheaper, more durable, etc?

God-is-a-Taco:If a pellet gun is powerful enough to kill a human, does it still serve a purpose?

Yes. Taking small game at longer ranges. They make terrific trail/survival guns since they're light, and use ammunition that is cheap, plentiful and easy to carry lots of. And they don't make a lot of noise compared to a firearm.

I have one of these "high-powered" air rifles. They are NOT toys and I would never allow a child to use one unsupervised.

The regressives got beaten so badly in the 2nd amendment national debate that they now resort to really pathetic attempts at humor to make a point, and at any perceived opportunity - perceived by there own warped selves. Awesome. Anyone advocating for infringement on the Bill of Rights deserves the pathetic life they probably have.

Big_Fat_Liar:The regressives got beaten so badly in the 2nd amendment national debate that they now resort to really pathetic attempts at humor to make a point, and at any perceived opportunity - perceived by there own warped selves. Awesome. Anyone advocating for infringement on the Bill of Rights deserves the pathetic life they probably have.

Big_Fat_Liar:The regressives got beaten so badly in the 2nd amendment national debate that they now resort to really pathetic attempts at humor to make a point, and at any perceived opportunity - perceived by there own warped selves. Awesome. Anyone advocating for infringement on the Bill of Rights deserves the pathetic life they probably have.

Ilmarinen:Big_Fat_Liar: The regressives got beaten so badly in the 2nd amendment national debate that they now resort to really pathetic attempts at humor to make a point, and at any perceived opportunity - perceived by there own warped selves. Awesome. Anyone advocating for infringement on the Bill of Rights deserves the pathetic life they probably have.

What the hell are you talking about??

He's probably referring to the tired cliche of sarcastically saying "Everyone shoulda had a gun and this would never have happened!!!1! Har, har!" which we see in every thread about people being killed with something gun-like. Harm dealer appears to have won the Special Olympic prize for using it first in this thread, though he will be disqualified if he is found to have used it ironically.

Stay tuned for the ironic derp backlash when the Fark gun enthusiasts start posting "This woulda never happened if everyone had a car!" in every thread about a pedestrian being hit by a car. Then again, they may already have got started on this in TotalFark.

Y'know, I'm not really sure what if anything could have been done to prevent this from occurring. Yes, there's going to be the par for the course herpaderp fear mongering over the fact that it was a projectile weapon (without knowing if there are any regulations on air rifles over a certain fps rating/caliber) and the scathing "if only he were armed/ must have had skittles" remarks, but really... what if the kid is a psychopath? Not having a mildly dangerous air rifle or having been raised differently by his parents would likely have had no effect. Until we know the psych evaluation of the kid we can't really say one way or the other. Seeing as it is unlikely we on Fark will ever know, the only thing we can say for certain is this is tragic.

I had a BB gun when I was 6 and a pellet gun when I was about 10, and my first hunting rifle -- a .30-30 Winchester -- from my grandmother when I was 13 (legal hunting age in Arizona). I've been around guns all my life, and I swear I never would've even thought that a pellet gun could kill. I know it'll sting like a biatch if you shoot somebody in the ass, and sometimes break the skin. Something must've gone exactly completely wrong to result in a death like that.

ecmoRandomNumbers:I had a BB gun when I was 6 and a pellet gun when I was about 10, and my first hunting rifle -- a .30-30 Winchester -- from my grandmother when I was 13 (legal hunting age in Arizona). I've been around guns all my life, and I swear I never would've even thought that a pellet gun could kill. I know it'll sting like a biatch if you shoot somebody in the ass, and sometimes break the skin. Something must've gone exactly completely wrong to result in a death like that.

Nevertheless -- RULE #1: ALWAYS treat EVERY gun like it's loaded.

Gun-control trolling arguments aside, this is just sad.

Part of the reason why I'm a proponent of mandatory Eddie Eagle (NRA children's gun safety) classes in all elementary schools. "If you find a gun, STOP! Don't touch it, tell an adult." Would help more than D.A.R.E. I would think.

Make more comprehensive gun safety courses available to high school kids with parental permission. "Every gun is loaded, never point a gun at anything you do not want destroyed, etc." The comprehensive courses don't even need to utilize actual firearms, to appease the "Think of the children!" parents.

I remember reading that space craft used to be almost entirely devoid of scent until NASA discovered that astronauts were gathering round to sniff lemon-scented handwipes which were the only thing relieving the nasal monotony. After that they added a few smells here and there.

xanadian:Why does a 9-year-old have a f*cking high-powered pellet gun? Where were the parents in all this??

/you'll shoot your eye out, kid!

My guess would be either the parents didn't know the weapon could be life threatening (like many Farkers in the thread) or the boy had not previously shown any signs of improper/unsafe use of the pellet gun.

/Assuming the parents were monitoring the kid's use of the pellet gun rather than just giving it to him as a gift and setting him free in the wilderness or failing to properly store the pellet gun if it were not his to begin with.